GPS Woes with MobileNavigator

27 September 2009 // Filed under Apps + iPhone

So I decided months ago that a 12 hour round trip drive was a good idea in order to see my favorite band in concert, and had I not seen them 4 times previously, I would have been right.  Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the concert, as I always do, but 12 hours and about 1/4 mile short of 750 miles round trip (all in one day mind you – I drove there, saw the concert, and immediately hopped in the car for our return drive home) has taught me differently.  In short, it was a pretty bad idea, and, to get on with it, Navigon’s usually very excellent MobileNavigator, didn’t help.  Between off the cuff directions that made no sense and taking us straight through the heart of the Cleveland ghetto on our way out of town (read: after midnight), the iPhone application didn’t display its usual charming self that gets me where I need to go with no fuss.

I’ve always been skeptical of using turn-by-turn GPS navigation devices (iPhone or otherwise).  I generally don’t leave my area of the country, the Kentucky Bluegrass if you’re at all interested, which negates the need for using a GPS application at home (we’re not that big and finding something is never all that hard), and having one for those rare out of town trips via car seems sort of like buying that expensive international calling plan for your iPhone when you only leave the country for a couple of weeks a year.¹ But after having read a few reviews on the different iPhone GPS apps, I decided to give MobileNavigator a shot.  At $89.99 it is less expensive than a dedicated GPS unit, and one less piece of hardware to buy/keep/maintain.  I already have my iPhone in the car all of the time, and it would be nice to not get lost when we do go out of town.  The first few uses, mostly as test runs, went well.  In fact, I was pretty amazed at the accuracy of the app.  I might have chosen a different route on occasion, but I can’t blame the application for keeping me on main roads rather than some of the more rural routes in our area.  Either way it had always chosen a reasonably quick and efficient route to my destination, and directed me there without error.  Then I went to Cleveland.

Now, I don’t want to lead you to believe, my dear readers, that the application landed me in Chicago, in fact I didn’t even turn the application on until we were about 15 miles outside of Cleveland, but it did show some “irregularities” once we got into town.  As we were entering the outskirts of Cleveland we got a notification:

In .5 miles remain in the left lane and continue on I-71 North.

Got it.  Then just before we get to the interchange, another notification:

In 400 feet, turn left on ‘x’ street.

Uhhhh.  At 80 MPH (Yes, I do drive fast) turning left in 400 feet on an Interstate seems pretty dangerous (not to mention impossible because I-71, like most interstates I’ve travelled, don’t have any place at all where making a left turn is possible).  Okay, disregard that unfortunate error and keep going.  Then after a few more correct notifications which get us off of the interstate and to a stop light we get another:

In .2 miles turn right on to ‘y’ street.

We can see our destination on the display map and we’re psyched; not only are we about to see a great band perform live, but we’re close to the end of this 6 hour car ride (which took place right in the middle of some of the worst rain I’ve ever driven in).  And just as we start to move we get yet another notification:

Please make a U-turn as soon as possible, then an immediate right on ‘z’ street.

Again we decide to ignore the funky notification and just move on, which indeed was the correct decision.  Our destination was right around the corner, and the timing, as before, seemed wrong.  One never knows, though, because I did pay $90 for an application which specializes in telling users how to get where they want to go.  Add to that the fact that it had always been perfect in my previous use, and a situation is set up which can, at worst, get someone lost,² but in a worst case scenario could get someone hurt.

Fortunately if one uses just a little bit of sense when interpreting the directions spoken by the application it will still help with getting you to your destination, but there are cases during which even common sense can’t help all that much.

GPS units, and apparently GPS applications for the iPhone, are programmed to map the “best” route possible from your current position to your destination.  What “best” means in the context of real-time use sometimes gets confusing as to whether you’re taking the shortest route to your destination, or the fastest based on type of road and speed limits (of which MobileNavigator is keenly aware).  But one thing it does not take in to account is the context of those routes.  Sometimes the “best” route in terms of time and/or distance isn’t the Best route.  Though mostly populated by hard working people who simply want to live their lives in peace, “bad neighborhoods” are not called bad neighborhoods for no reason, and GPS software can sometimes put users in a bad position, particularly if you’re in an unfamiliar city where finding assistance or seeking help may not be an easy task.  I understand that it would be very difficult to designate such areas,³ but whenever the philosophical, sociological and political hurdles have been overcome, I welcome the technology which will keep me out of the ghetto in unfamiliar surroundings at 1.30 in the morning, yet still take me on a route that will get me where I want to go.

______________________________

1. During a recent trip to Brazil, every time my iPhone connected to the local Brazilian cell network, I received a text message from AT&T telling me that I should pony up and subscribe to a full-time international calling and data plan.

2. Having bad directions would only result in the program finding its error (or at least discovering that you had diverted from the planned route) and correcting it by re-routing your course to get back on track.

3. What constitutes a “bad neighborhood?” Where would we draw the lines?

2009-09-27  ::  Christopher Williams